Ohlone College Board of
Trustees President Garrett
Yee will deploy for a third tour
of duty in Kuwait in May.

MONITOR STAFF

Yee set
to deploy
LOUIS LAVENTURE
Editor-in-chief
As if being the president
of the Ohlone College Board
of Trustees while serving as
an Army Reserve brigadier
general and maintaining employment at a statistical data
company weren’t enough,
Garrett Yee’s plate just got a
little bit fuller.
Yee has been tagged for his
third tour of duty overseas,
this time heading to Kuwait
for a year, departing in May.
“I was expecting it. I actually got a heads-up a while
back but it wasn’t locked in
until recently,” Yee said.
“I will be responsible for
communications of structures in the region, among
other things.”
This being his third deployment,Yee seemed a little
more comfortable with the
process and what needs to
be done in order to maintain
some normalcy at home.
“I will take a leave of absence from the board and
work,” Yee said.
“This is the third time that
I have officially done this, so
it is a little easier.”
Yee’s four-year term as
Continued on Page 3

FREMONT, CA
OHLONEMONITOR.COM

LOUIS LAVENTURE /MONITOR

Brenda Montgomery shows a photo of herself as a child in Texas to a group of students from
Ohlone and local high schools who shared their experiences with bullying on Wednesday.

College, high school
students share social
experiences in safe
environment
LOUIS LAVENTURE
Editor-in-chief
With the Earth constantly
changing, things tend to
adapt to stay alive.
Unfortunately, adaptation
is not just limited to positive
aspects of life.
Bullying has adapted to
the times and taken on so
many new forms that it is be-

coming increasingly difficult
to control, especially with the
advent of social media.
On Wednesday, putting a
stop to bullying got a huge
boost in the form of a panel
discussion during Brenda
Montgomery’s sociology
class on the Fremont campus.
High school students, as
well as Ohlone students from
Montgomery’s psychology
and sociology classes, were
invited to share their bullying
experiences.
Montgomery, having been
born with a birth defect that

impaired her left arm, is very
familiar with bullying.
“My family, especially my
parents, did not want me to
worry about my birth defect,
so they would tell me that it
is a gift and how lucky I was
that God loved me more and
gave me this special gift,”
Montgomery said.
On her first day of elementary school, though, Montgomery figured out what was
going to come from having
this impairment.
“This was not a gift. Gifts
are supposed to be fun and
Continued on Page 3

More than a fifth of Ohlone
College students have considered committing suicide,
and 2.3 percent have attempted it, according to a
2010 survey.
With these sobering statistics in mind, the college
will hold its annual Out of
the Darkness campus walk
April 14 to remember those
who have been lost due to
suicide and raise money for
suicide prevention.
Ohlone’s first Out of the
Darkness walk was held in
April 2011 in memory of
Stewart Dawson, a campus
police officer who took his
own life the previous year.
Dawson’s mother, sister and
nephews will attend this
year’s walk.
Participants will meet in
the Quad on the Fremont
campus and walk twice
around the campus perimeter, a distance of about 2.4
miles.
Check-in and on-site registration will begin at 11 a.m.,
the walk will begin at noon
and closing ceremonies will
be held at 1 p.m.
The goal is to raise $4,000
for the American Foundation
for Suicide Prevention. The
organization funds research
and education programs to
prevent suicide and save
lives; increases national
awareness about depression
Continued on Page 3

RUNYON HONORED

Softball coach to receive prestigious award
LOUIS LAVENTURE
Editor-in-chief
TheCaliforniaCommunity
College Coaches Association
is honoring Ohlone College
softball coach Donna Runyon with their 2014 Coaching
Achievement Award.
Runyon was nominated
for the award by her peers,
and was notified through a
letter last month noting her
dedication and mentoring
of players.
“Coach has been around
the game for so long and

I just want to soak up as
much knowledge as I can,”
freshman pitcher RaeAnn
Garza said.
Runyon has compiled an
astounding record in her
35-year coaching career, including 27 years at Ohlone.
Runyon has accumulated
a staggering 875 wins in her
career including capturing
the Coast Conference title
nine years in a row from 2003
to 2011.
“I know that we’re going to
lose games, but I never want
to lose the lesson,” Runyon

said. “I teach my teams to
always strive to be 1 percent
better every day.”
The Lady Renegades are
19-10 overall and 8-3 in
conference play with just
nine games remaining in the
regular season.
Runyon noted that she has
much bigger concerns than
wins and losses, even with
her 900th victory rapidly approaching.
“What makes me proudest of my time at Ohlone
is watching my players get
degrees and moving on.”

HUNG NGUYEN / MONITOR

Ohlone softball coach Donna Runyon talks strategy with RaeAnn
Garza and Alyssa Raguini during a home game in March in Fremont.

2

NEWS

MONITOR
APRIL 3, 2014

NEWS BITES
Book signing,
sing-along coming
There will be a singalong and book signing
Tuesday in the cafeteria
on the Fremont campus
for a new music book
written for Ohlone’s vocal students.
The sing-along begins
at 12:30 p.m. Afterward,
students in Janet Holmes’ voice class will sign
copies of the book, “11
Folk Songs Plus One.”
The book includes
photos from Monitor
Photo Editor Tam Duong
Jr.

No bus service
at lower loop

COURTESY OF MARIA RAMIREZ

Aztec dancers perform traditional dances during the first day of the Latina Leadership Network Conference in Newark last month.

Newark campus hosts Latina conference
LOUIS LAVENTURE
Editor-in-chief
The Ohlone College Newark campus had the privilege of hosting the 27th
annual Latina Leadership
Network of California Community Colleges statewide
conference over spring
break, March 27-29.
The event drew the maximum number of attendees, 185, selling out weeks
in advance and forcing the
network to turn away some
potential visitors at Ohlone,
which was hosting the conference for the first time.
“The Latina Leadership
Network had some rough
times, including losing a
lot of money through a hotel that handled a previous
conference,” Ohlone coun-

selor and network co-chair
Maria Ramirez said. “We
just thought that the Newark campus is so nice, why
not have it here.”
The three-day event,
themed “Leading, Loving,
Living – Life in Balance,”
was filled with several activities for attendees to enjoy
that included workshops,
guest speakers, dancing,
vendors and awards.
Ohlone Indian descendant Andrew Galvan, curator at Mission Dolores
in San Francisco, graced
the crowd with an opening blessing on Thursday to
kick off the three-day conference, which was dazzled
by keynote speaker Rita
Cepeda.
“It was a wonderful day
and it truly replenished

Man arrested in peeping
incident on Newark campus
MONITOR STAFF
A male student was arrested Tuesday evening
on suspicion of looking
into the women’s restroom
stalls on the Newark campus, police said.
About 6:10 p.m., a woman told campus police
that a man had entered
the women’s restroom
and looked over the stalls.
Campus police found the
man, who was identified
by the woman, and Newark police were called in to
assist.

Alusine Danfa, 20, of San
Jose was arrested on a misdemeanor charge, Newark
police said.
The female student
wasn’t injured or threatened, police said.
Campus police Chief
Steve Osawa reminded the
Ohlone community to report suspicious activity immediately.
“This female student reported the incident immediately and that resulted in
the identification and arrest of the perpetrator,” he
said.

me,” Cepeda said. “The Latina Leadership Network is
an amazing vehicle. I particularly loved being with
my students from Evergreen College and San Jose
City College – their faces
said it all.”
Workshops, speakers and
a dance rounded out Friday,
which many felt was a huge
part of the success of the
conference.
“The spiritual holistic
vibe of the conference enlightened me and many
others,” said Carol Justiniano, executive board member of the Latina Leadership
Network.
“We don’t get much of
that in Los Angeles, so when
we do, we don’t want to let it
go.”
Attendees gushed over

how well things ran and
how informative and fun
the conference was, giving
Ramirez lots of hope for the
network.
“Bringing the conference
back to a college named after native people was really
important to us,” she said.
“It starts with a dream
but it can become a reality.
Now we know that the fire is
still there.”
Ramirez also noted that
the network wants to help
change the typical stereotypes that surround Latinas.
“We don’t see a lot of success in the media that portrays us very stereotypically,” Ramirez said.
“Our roots are very strong
with lots of balance and lots
of contributions to society.”

Religious fervor

AC Transit Lines 210
and 217 will not drop off
and pick up passengers
Friday at the stop in the
lower loop near the baseball field because of water
valve installation work.
Buses will continue to
serve the upper bus loop
by the pond, and regular
service to the lower loop is
expected to be restored by
Monday.

Healthy-eating
workshop to
be held today
A
healthy-eating
workshop will be held
today on the Fremont
campus.
“Life in the Fast Lane:
A Guide to Healthy Eating” will be from noon
to 1 p.m. in Room 7101.
The hour-long seminar will help attendees
to outline a one-day
menu plan using food
choices that promote
health goals; identify
three factors needed
for hassle-free nutritious food preparation
at home; and discover
two ways to improve
the healthfulness of
food choices away from
home.
To RSVP for the workshop, go to www.surveym o n k e y. c o m / s / YQ G 9BRB

Speech series
returns

LOUIS LAVENTURE / MONITOR

A man preaches in the Quad on the Fremont campus on Friday.

The Speech and Communications
department speaker series returns at 1 p.m. Friday
in Room 3102 with “The
Dangers of Negative
Self-Talk” with speaker
RaeAnn Ianniello.
–Compiled by Monitor staff

Continued from Page 1
a trustee will expire in December, creating some campaigning issues. However,
Yee confirmed that he plans
to seek re-election.
“I will definitely be running again,” he said.
Two weeks ago, Trustee
Kevin Bristow announced
he would step down after
accepting a job at the University of California, Merced.
Trustees plan to appoint
a new board member to
fill Bristow’s position from
mid-May until the next
election in November. The
deadline to apply for the

position is April 16.
Yee is scheduled to return in May 2015, so if he
is re-elected in November
the board will have only six
members until he returns.
Still, college officials are
very familiar with the process, having been through
two of Yee’s deployments
already.
“This will be Garrett’s third
deployment,” college President Gari Browning said. “I
don’t anticipate a big issue
or a big void there. Garrett’s
great, but we have several
experienced board members
now, so we’re in good shape.”

Opinions expressed in the
Monitor are those of the respective authors and are not
necessarily those of the staff,
the college or the Associated
Students of Ohlone College.

special – this is a curse,”
Montgomery said. “I must
have been the only kid who
hated recess because I knew
I would be on display in a
corner by myself trying to
hide my arm not to draw attention.”
Ohlone student Breanna
Ludington shared her interesting story with the packed
auditorium as well, straying
from the trend of most bullying stories. Ludington was
bullied as a child and later
became a bully herself.
“When I was young I was in
a dance class, and my teacher
told me that if I wanted to be a
dancer I couldn’t look the way
I do,” Ludington said.
“A girl overheard what the
teacher told me and would
say, ‘You can’t be a fat dancer,’
and that was hard to take.”
Ludington went on to describe another incident that
helped to turn her from victim
to bully.
“I had some friends over at
my house in middle school,
and one of the boys said,
‘Hey, your mom is so hot.’ So I
responded, `I know,’ because
she is,” Ludington said.“Then
he said, ‘Why can’t you look
like her?’ It broke my heart.”
Ludington felt that incidents like these were
major contributing factors in her becoming a

bully in high school.
“I feel that for me I wasn’t
happy with myself, I still felt
ugly and fat in high school
compared to everyone else
that was around me,” Ludington said. “I wanted others
to feel the way that I felt, even
if what I said was a complete
lie. I lashed out at those who
I wanted to be and wanted to
look like.”
The audience also was able
to ask questions and comment following the diverse
panel discussion, which
highlighted several types of
bullying.
Ohlone student Pete Noga
admitted to the attendees
that his story was a little different.
“Hearing all of these stories up here really makes me
think, because growing up I
was the bully,” Noga said. “I
have been bullied in different
ways, but usually I was the
one who was the bully.”
A John F. Kennedy High
School panelist touched on
yet another form of bullying: Being called a lesbian
and a dyke because she had
befriended a female whose
peers thought she was gay.
For most people, bullying
just means some big kid telling a much smaller kid, “Hey,
give me your lunch money,
punk.”
Now, thanks in large part
to social media, bullying con-

tinues to adapt and change
its form in order to stay alive.
Posting nasty or disparaging comments on a peer’s
social media page is one of
the newer forms of bullying,
proving that when things are
on the verge of extinction,
they will adapt to try and stay
afloat.
Montgomery, for her part,

was proud that she was able
to create a safe learning
environment where people
can learn from other people’s
stories.
“My heart was sad and
happy for those students that
participated on the panel,”
she said. “It showed courage
and I could not have been
more proud of them.”

Campus walk aimed
at suicide prevention
Continued from Page 1
and suicide; and provides
support for survivors of
suicide loss.
There is no charge to take
part, but walkers must raise
at least $100 to receive an
official Out of the Darkness
Campus Walk T-shirt.
Suicide is the secondleading cause of death for
college students, and the
third for youth ages 15-24,
according to the Student
Health Center. Undiagnosed
or untreated adolescent depression is the No. 1 cause.
According to the 2010
Ohlone College National
College Health Assessment
Survey:
- 2.3 percent of Ohlone
students have attempted

suicide.
- More than 12 percent of
Ohlone students received
a lower grade on an exam,
a lower grade in a course
or dropped a course due to
depression.
- Twenty-five percent
of students have received
mental health services from
a mental health counselor.
- Eight percent of Ohlone
students were diagnosed
within the previous 12
months with depression.
- Twenty-one percent
of Ohlone students have
considered suicide, 5.5 percent within the previous 12
months.
To register for the walk, go
to http://afsp.donordrive.
com/index.cfm.

4

MONITOR
APRIL 3, 2014

FEATURES

Theater festival uses campus as set
High School students
use Ohlone Fremont
campus as backdrop
for acting out drama
LOUIS LAVENTURE
Editor-in-chief
Ohlone College last month
hosted the 20th annual High
School Theatre Festival,
which was a huge success.
More than 850 contestants
from 27 schools, some from
as far away as Grass Valley
and Fresno, arrived in pursuit of impressing the judges
and taking home awards for
their performances.
“It’s really not about the
trophies and medals – students are looking for critique.
What did I do that’s really
great? What do I need work
on?” Ohlone theater instructor Michele Hartmangruber
said.
“Then they can go back to
their instructor and perfect
their technique.”
Sean Okuniewiez and
Gabriel Olagov managed not
only to get critiques, but also
nab a prize for their performance during the festival.
“Their one act from Zoo
Story won second place
overall in the competition,”
said Arcadia Conrad, theatre
program director of Cupertino Actors Theatre.

THE TONY
AWARDS AND
THE OSCARS ALL
ROLLED UP IN
ONE

TAM DUONG JR. / MONITOR

Top: Things get physical as Cupertino High School students Sean Okuniewiez, left, and Gabriel Olagov act out a scene from “Zoo Story” by
Edward Albee In March on the Fremont campus. Left: Okuniewiez and Olagov display some emotional range during another scene from “Zoo
Story.” Right: Okuniewiez falls to the ground, overcome with emotion, during one of the final moments of “Zoo Story.”

Students were all over the
Fremont campus performing and rehearsing, creating
an almost surreal environment of drama.
“When I parked I saw
some people in the parking
lot arguing. Then I get up the
stairs and there was all kinds
of stuff going on,” Ohlone
student Angela Vaughn said.
“They were everywhere –
the Quad, the Palm Bosque –
I mean everywhere. Campus
is usually empty on Friday,
so it was a little strange but
very cool.”
The final judging took
place on March 22. More
than 90 judges offered feedback and constructive crticism, and named the winners for all the categories.
According to Ohlone, the
festival has grown so much
over the years that it has
affectionately become referred to as “the Tony Awards
and the Oscars rolled up in
one.”

FEATURES

On the Road
with
MITCHELL WALTHER

Never a
failure to
launch
No one told us this was
going to be easy. Being
scared of a “failure to
launch” is a real thing. We
spend so long focusing
on where we want to go,
the gap between here and
there gets so big we never
see it.
In a fast-moving culture,
taking baby steps is an
art form long forgotten.
Working up the ladder isn’t
feasible because of the
pain we feel when we’re
reminded every day we
aren’t there yet. That loathing feeling when someone
asks, “So, what are you
doing with yourself these
days” comes from what
we feel is expected of us,
not what is truly required.
The truth is that no two
measuring sticks are the
same. Someone who is
finishing up college ahead
of his classmate is not better than someone taking
his time and working as
many job hours as he can.
Everyone’s lifeline is different and comparing the two
misses the whole point of
success.
No one ever “arrives”
so no two people can be
headed toward the same
destination. The beauty of
all these different paths is
that none of us are competing with each other, and
we can all help each other
out. A failure to launch is
only sustained if we never
even try. If we give up, then
we have our own battle to
wrestle with, no one else’s.
Coming off of spring
break and diving headfirst back into class can be
rough. We can lose sight of
our goals, especially after
everyone comes home and
we get to hear where their
lives are headed. The best
we can do is smile and be
happy for everyone else,
and in turn happy for
ourselves.
We’re pursuing our visions and so are they.
Everything is right in the
world so long as we simply
don’t give up. The world
will keep turning, and so
will we.

MONITOR
APRIL 3, 2014

5

Ohlone to screen Harold Lloyd movie
MONITOR STAFF
Harold Lloyd’s classic
silent comedy “The Freshman” will be screened
Friday at Ohlone College’s
Smith Center on the Fremont campus.
The 1925 film, about a
college freshman’s efforts
to be popular, was directed by Fred C. Newmeyer
and Sam Taylor. Among
other things, Lloyd joins
the school football team
as he strives to attain the
approval of the student
body at Tate University.
“The Freshman” was
one of the most successful
films for Lloyd, who made
nearly 200 silent and
“talkie” movies between
1914 and 1947.
Lloyd’s films often included long chase scenes
and dangerous stunts,
many of which the actor
performed himself.
Bay Area organist Jerry
Na g a n o, re t u r n i n g t o
Ohlone for the third year
as part of the Smith Center Season of the Arts, will
provide the underscore.
Nagano is known as a
concert musician and for
his expertise in accompanying silent films on the
organ. Born and raised
in Los Angeles, he began
his musical training at

COURTESY OF OHLONE COLLEGE

Above: Bay Area organist Jerry Nagano. Below: A still from Harold Lloyd’s film “The Freshman.”

age 10 under the tutelage
of Gaylord Carter, one
of the great silent film
organists.
Nagano has performed
for the past 12 years at
the Stanford Theatre in
Palo Alto.
“The Freshman” will
screen at 8:30 p.m. Tickets
are $10 and event parking
is $2. Tickets are available
online or at the Smith
Center Box Office.
For more information,
call the box office at 510659-6031 or go to www.
smithcenter.com.

Black comedy impresses at Cinequest

MITCHELL WALTHER
Staff writer
The Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose has come and
gone. More than 80 movies
had their debuts there last
month.
I had a chance to go see
about 15 of them, and there
was a lot of good stuff to see.
From movies about ’80s hair
bands to serial-killing ambulance drivers, every genre
was represented, and every
outlet had a voice to be heard.
During the second week,
I had a chance to go see
“Lawrence & Holloman.”
Directed by Matthew Kowalchuk and starring Ben
Cotton and Daniel Arnold,
this “feel-bad comedy of the
year” was an entertaining
and fantastic satire on life
itself.
Focusing on two salesmen, one a pessimist and one
an optimist, this movie wove
clever wordplay around an
increasingly ridiculous tale
of revenge and disgust.
Easily deserving the title

COURTESY OF AMELAND FILMS

Daniel Arnold, left, and Ben Cotton star in the film “Lawrence & Holloman,” which screened at
the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose last month.

of “dark comedy,” suicide
and misfortune are played
largely for laughs while this
movie asks us to consider the
weight of fate and friends in
our lives. What it means to be
happy and the consequences
of such a pursuit are largely
the themes at play.
With great performances
all around, “Lawrence &
Holloman” tugs on your
heartstrings while barely giving you a chance to breathe
between jokes.
As far as independent films
go, this is one you should rent

if you have a chance. Pending a U.S. theatrical release,
this Canadian-funded film is
making its rounds from film
festival to film festival.
If you didn’t get a chance to
check out any of the movies

at Cinequest this year, many
will find a home on Netflix in
the coming months. And if
you happen across it at your
movie theater, be sure to step
in and watch “Lawrence &
Holloman.”

6

MONITOR
APRIL 3, 2014

Athlete salaries
at an all-time high

LOUIS LAVENTURE
Editor-in-chief
The first thing that came
to mind when I heard about
the contract extension the
Detroit Tigers inked Miguel
Cabrera to last week is why?
Why would you make an
aging and increasingly immobile fielder the highest
paid athlete in the world?
Why?
Well, the answer is simple:
because they can.
The local television deals
and the revenue generated
by the longest professional
sports regular season, 162
games, allow deals like this
to happen in baseball.
The Detroit Tigers will
earn $110 million from their
local cable television deal
with Fox Sports Detroit, including money from Major
League Baseball’s shared
collective revenue.
That’s $110 million made
in one season just from
their television deal. This
number does not include
ticket sales, concessions or
souvenirs – nothing except
the television deal earnings.
The amount of money
that the sport takes in is
absurd, and in turn it results
in contracts like the one that
Cabrera received.
Cabrera was still under
contract for two more seasons. However, the eightyear extension makes him
the highest paid professional athlete in the world.
Cabrera was ranked No.
46 on Forbes magazine’s list
of highest paid athletes for
2014, before the extension
catapulted the veteran slugger and Triple Crown winner
to the top spot.
Remember the last record-breaking contract that
the MLB had the pleasure of

OPINIONS

being involved with?
The New York Yankees do,
because they are still paying
for it – to Alex Rodriguez,
who was suspended in April
2013 for 211 games stemming from his involvement
with a performance-enhancing drug lab in Florida.
The Yankees were responsible for $67 million of
the remaining $179 million
left on the record-breaking
contract when they acquired
him from the Texas Rangers
in 2004.
The original deal was
worth $252 million over 10
years, which the Yankees are
in the final year of, finally.
With everything that has
happened to Rodriguez over
the life of the deal, it is safe
to say that it was not worth
it. Rodriguez has only won
a single championship in
his career with the Yankees
and even now, during his
suspension, he continues
to rake in the dough, thanks
in large part to the Yankees’
television deal generating a
seemingly endless amount
of money.
While players’ salaries
are a direct reflection of the
money that their team takes
in, it doesn’t make them
right or justifiable.
What about teachers
who shape and nurture the
minds of the future of the nation? Shouldn’t their salaries
reflect the future earning of
their students?
Or what about the construction worker who builds
a structure that will generate
so much revenue it is virtually uncountable?
Do they deserve to have
their salaries reflected by
the future earnings of what
they created?
Professional athletes put
their bodies on the line

CAMPUS COMMENT

MAGDALENA JURYS / MONITOR

and many pay the ultimate
price later in life because of
their profession, but why
isn’t this practice applied to
every job?
Many will say that there is
no television network devoted to watching classrooms
or construction projects and
there are no concessions or
ticket sales for said activities
either.
It just seems outrageous
to me that in a time when
the economy is so bad and
starving Americans line the
streets that a man can be
paid so much money to play

a game for children.
While I do understand
where the money comes
from, and why the salaries
are the way they are, I just
can’t agree with them being
right or morally acceptable.
Major League Baseball
and all sports should be
forced to take a large percentage of that shared revenue and invest it back
into the community and its
workers, who provide the
theoretical foundation for
American society.
So, instead of giving a
hard-hitting slugger or high-

flying dunker $30 million a
year and then millions more
in endorsement deals, give
him $20 million and change
lives with that other $10
million.
Most Americans will never
see a fraction of what some
professional athletes make
in one game, let alone an
entire year.
The rich will keep getting
richer.
I just hope they don’t forget about all of the people
supporting the base of their
lifestyle, who deserve a piece
of the shared revenue of life.

What do you think of the salaries that professional athletes make?
CRAIG BOYER
Psychology

“They are justified because
a large sum of their salaries
come from fans paying”
ALEX SHAMBAUGH
Engineering

“The millions they get paid
is too much for what they
actually do”
BELINDA GARCIA
Psychology

“I don’t know. I think they
make a lot. Maybe too
much if you ask me”
ISRAEL CARRERO
Criminal Justice

“As a former athlete, I think
they are paid way more
than they should be”

ROLAND BALDWIN
English

“A lot of athletes in lower leagues make pretty moderate
wages. I think their salaries for the most part aren’t high”

SPORTS

MONITOR
APRIL 3, 2014

7

BASEBALL

Renegades defeat College of San Mateo 5-3

Ohlone improves
to 21-6, sends
Bulldogs home with
a conference loss
LOUIS LAVENTURE
Editor-in-chief
First-year coach Mike
Curran has the Ohlone
College baseball team off
to one of the best starts in
school history.
The Renegades improved to 21-6 overall and
10-5 in Coast Conference
play after defeating the
visiting College of San
Mateo Bulldogs 5-3 on
Wednesday afternoon in
Fremont.
“We didn’t play our best
but we still found ways to

get the job done,” Curran
said following the victory.
Jaramy Jacobs started
the game for Ohlone, going
four strong innings before
running into some trouble
and giving way to reliever
Brady Moore.
Moore was brilliant in the
relief effort, giving a different look to the Bulldog hitters with a sidearm type of
delivery.
Moore picked up his sixth
win of the season, improving to 6-1 overall and more
importantly increasing the
chances for postseason
qualification.
“Brady Moore came in
really throwing a lot of
strikes,” sophomore Jacob
DiThomas said.
“We just can’t let the um-

pires make calls. We have
to be aggressive and make
things happen.”
DiThomas earned a walk,
driving in a run in the winning effort for the Renegades.
Sophomore Jacob Lopez also drove in a run for
Ohlone, nabbing a single
in the winning effort after
striking out in his second
plate appearance.
“Teammates will pick you
up and it doesn’t really give
you too much time to think
about it,” Lopez said.“This
was a great team win.”
Next up for the Renegades will be another home
conference battle at 2:30
p.m. on Tuesday, when West
Valley College travels to the
Fremont campus.

TAM DUONG JR. / MONITOR

Top: Ohlone catcher Josh Egan beats out a throw to first in the
second inning of a 5-3 victory over College of San Mateo on
Wednesday. Bottom: Jaramy Jacobs fires a strike to home in
the first inning of a 5-3 triumph over College of San Mateo in
Fremont on Wednesday afternoon.

SOFTBALL

Rain postpones conference showdown for Renegades
LOUIS LAVENTURE
Editor-in-chief
Riding a three-game winning streak, the Ohlone College softball team didn’t let
a little bad weather distract
them from their playoff focus.
The rain postponed Tuesday’s conference showdown
with West Valley College until April 14, but that didn’t
shift their focus either.
“We want to put another
one of those championship circles on the fence for
coach,” Morgan Meyer said.
The baseball and softball
fields will be torn down and
replaced by new facilities in
2015, making this the final
season for both.
The Lady Renegades are
doing their part to make
sure that they first qualify
for the coveted California
State Playoffs, which begin
at the end of the month.
Ohlone got a lot closer to
the playoffs over the past

few weeks, compiling victories over San Jose City College, Monterey Peninsula
College and Hartnell College, in that order.
The Lady Renegades are
now 19-10 overall and 8-3
in Coast Conference competition.
Ohlone outscored their
opponents in the three victories 25-16, which included a 14-6 drubbing of Monterey Peninsula.
“Sometimes things go our
way and sometimes they
don’t, but it is all about how
you come back or move forward,” RaeAnn Garza said.
The last game for Ohlone
in March was a bit of a different story – and much
more dramatic.
The Lady Renegades
pulled off a 5-4 walk-off victory, marking the 13th win
of the season for the Ohlone
hurler Garza.
Sophomore infielder Savanna Ulloa did most of the
damage for the Lady Ren-

RYAN PARCHER / MONITOR

Jillian Ceccanti emphatically stomps on home plate following her second home run in March in Fremont.

egades, collecting two hits
and driving in two runs in
the winning effort.
Ulloa spoke about her
role earlier in the season.

“I try and not let stuff get
me down,” Ulloa said.
“Everybody fails, especially in sports. I just try to
focus on what is next and

learn from my mistakes.”
Next up for Ohlone is a
home game at 1 p.m. on
Saturday when De Anza
College travels to Fremont.

8

SPORTS

MONITOR
APRIL 3, 2014

SWIMMING

Got Me Feeling Some
Type of Way with

Seven down

LOUIS LAVENTURE

Sports bliss

One to go

Next stop: championships

TAM DUONG JR. / MONITOR

Top: Fiona Greer displays excellent butterfly-stroke technique during a meet against City College of San Francisco last month in Fremont.
Middle: Greer shows she can freestyle as well during one of just two home meets this season for the Ohlone College swim and dive team.
Bottom: Swimmers from City College of San Francisco and Ohlone dive into action last month at the Fremont campus swimming pool.

Swim and dive
team use regular
season as training
for conference
championships
LOUIS LAVENTURE
Editor-in-chief
Being an athlete generally comes down to two
things: wins and losses.
Yet for the Ohlone College swim and dive team,
winning and losing is irrelevant in the regular season, and meets are used as
practice runs for the Coast
Conference
Championships, which will be held in

just two weeks.
“There are no team
scores or anything like
that. This all boils down to
the conference championships,” Coach Gene Kendall said.
“The regular season
and the meets are about
much more than times and
wins. They are really about
evaluating your team and
learning how to get better
from mistakes as well as
success.”
Ohlone is fielding one
of the smallest teams that
Kendall has ever seen during his tenure here at the
college.
“We have about 10 peo-

ple right now when we had
about 34 last year,” Kendall said. “We have quality
swimmers, just not a lot. It
limits what we can do.”
Swimmers are only allowed to compete in seven
total events in relay and individual catergories which
creates a different set of
problems with such a small
team.
“It really just depends on
the year and if I think that
we can compete at the conference championships,”
Kendall said.
“Last year we had a really
strong team so I took control of the events to make
sure we were in the best

position. If we don’t have a
chance then the swimmers
have a lot more freedom in
what they want to do.”
Ohlone has only one
tune-up meet left before
the conference championships begin on April 15.
They will travel to Hayward to compete in the
Chabot College Invitational on Saturday.
The daylong event will
provide a great advantage
for Ohlone.
The conference championships are also being held
at Chabot College this year,
giving the Ohlone squad
some much-needed familiarity with the pool.

This time of year has
to make true sports fans
nostalgic.
Wait, I think.
For decades, the beginning of spring has
brought with it not only
fresh flowers and pristine
weather, but also some
magic to this part of the
year for sports.
College basketball is
engrossed in madness
with the final four teams
slated to battle it out for
national supremacy at
the athletic monstrosity
known as AT&T Stadium
in Arlington, Texas.
The Major League
Baseball season began
its marathon 162-game
regular-season schedule
stateside in grand fashion
on national television,
showcasing the iconic Los
Angeles Dodgers.
Soccer is doing whatever it is that soccer does
in Europe, highlighted by
career seasons from the
sport’s two brightest stars,
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Even the National Basketball Association is in
the prime part of the season, with fewer than 10
regular-season games remaining before the playoffs begin.
With all of the sports
meeting at one time of the
year, creating a plethora
of options and scenarios
for even the most casual
of fans, I still yearn for the
true national pastime.
Football.
The National Football
League has undoubtedly
surpassed all other sports
in the United States as far
as viewing, ratings and attendance.
The off-season transactions and dealings draw
more attention and media buzz than some of
the other so-called major
sports’ most important
events.
Case in point: Heisman
Trophy winner Johnny
Manziel is in the midst of
being drafted by an NFL
team. His pro-day was attended by eight NFL head
coaches, and all 32 teams
were represented, as was
just about every media
outlet known to man,
dominating sports coverage for days.
So while this is a great
time of the year for sports,
it still leaves that thirst for
more that only the NFL
can quench.